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International Journal of Horticulture 2014, Vol.4, No.5, 20
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23
http://ijh.sophiapublisher.com
20
Research Report Open Access
Studies on Intercropping with Leguminous and Non-leguminous Crops on Yield, Leaf
Nutrient Status and Relative Economic Yield of Apple cv. Red Delicious
Rifat Bhat , W.M. Wani , M.K. Sharma , Naira Ashraf
Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, 190025
Corresponding author email: rifatbhat83@gmail.com;
Authors
International Journal of Horticulture, 2014, Vol.4, No.5 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2014.04.0005
Received: 20 Feb., 2014
Accepted: 13 Mar., 2014
Published: 24 Mar., 2014
Copyright
© 2014 Bhat et al. This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Bhat et al., 2014, Studies on Intercropping with Leguminous and Non-leguminous Crops on Yield, Leaf Nutrient Status and Relative Economic Yield of Apple cv.
Red Delicious, International Journal of Horticulture, 2014, Vol.4, No.5 20-23 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2014.04.0005)
Abstract
Effect of intercrops viz., maize, pea, strawberry, cabbage, red clover, french bean, oats and clean cultivation (control) on
productivity, quality, leaf nutrient status and relative economic yield of apple cv. Red Delicious was studied during the years 2008 and
2009 Flowering, per cent fruit set, and fruit maturity occurred earlier in apple trees intercropped with pea, red clover and french bean than
control and heavy feeder crops like maize, oats, strawberry and cabbage. Fruit yield, fruit weight, fruit volume and leaf nutrient status
were found to be highest in trees intercropped with leguminous crops than non-legumes. The relative economic yield of apple was found
higher with pea followed by cabbage and french bean.
Keywords
Apple; Intercrops; Yield; Economics; Leaf nutrient status; Red Delicious
Introduction
The Jammu and Kashmir state enjoys a unique and
varied climate in the Indian subcontinent for successful
production of temperate fruits particularly apple. In spite
of the fact that this is the only state where yield of apple
varieties is highest in the country yet it compares poorly
to the yields obtained by other horticulturally advanced
countries. One of the main causes for this is the low
availability of essential nutrients as the farmers are only
supplying N, P and K fertilizers and that too
indiscriminately and secondly the interspaces are
covered with perennial weeds which compete with
essential nutrients and moisture thereby reducing their
availability. So if the interspaces of orchards are utilised
by growing different intercrops, that are compatible with
the main crop, they not only improve the physical
conditions of soils but also enhances the uptake of
moisture and nutrients.
This practice is also one of the most important factor of
orchard soil management system because in this case we
cultivate the different intercrops which otherwise
remains intact with mostly perennial weeds. These
perennial weeds go deeper into the soil for moisture, and
lot of water is also transpired from them. Due to this
crop-weed competition, fruit trees mostly suffer from
water stress and also have an impact on yield and
quality of fruits. Effective orchard soil management is
also key orchard production practice for profitable and
sustainable tree fruit production (Derr, 2001).
So, once this system is practised, it can be the possible
solution to meet the continuous increase in demand for
food, stability of income and diverse requirements of
food and at the same time it can improve the nutrition
for small scale farmers with limited resources. Thus
keeping in view the above points the present
investigation was carried out in most important apple cv.
Red Delicious.
Results and Discussion
The data present in Table 1 revealed that the blooming
of apple trees intercropped with pea started from 43.18
days after reference date (i.e., 1
st
March) but in case of
apple plants intercropped with maize, initial bloom
appeared after completion of 49.88 days from the
reference date. Full bloom also occurred earlier in apple
trees intercropped with legume and late with heavy
feeder crops like maize, oats, cabbage and strawberry.
This might be due to the reason that adequate quantity
of N, P and K are contributed by leguminous crops
which are capable of producing dark green coloured